Bitter Fun
by TheAngelofIego
Summary: This is based off of a Fan Comic that I found on DA called Shift written by the amazing LivingAliveCreator. I highly recommend reading that first. When all of his friends are being turned against him, can Jack Frost convince everyone that the fire at the North Pole wasn't his fault?


Bitter Fun:

Toothiana Fairy winced as yet another small branch got tangled in her feathers, pulling at the plumage painfully.

Sighing, she gently untangled the sticks and went on her way, trying to remember where exactly it was the Jack lived in the massive tree he called home. An open space was coming into sight and she moved a little faster, wings buzzing as fast as a hummingbird's.

"Jack?" The only sound the met her ears was a deafening silence, broken only by the sound of her own breathing and the constant buzz of her wings.

"Jack?" she called louder, more insistent, "Are you in here?"

More silence, then a tired voice called out, "I'm here!"

Tooth's brows frowned; she had never heard him sound like that.

As she emerged through the foliage she was surprised to see Jack laying in his back, propping himself up on his elbows and only turning his head at her entrance.

Tooth almost stopped at the sight of him.

There he sat, or rather laid, on the top of one of the small inner trees, hair messier than she had ever seen it. He had dark bags under his eyes, which were slightly blood-shot from what she guessed to be lack of sleep, though it could have also been the result of stray tears, and the blue orbs were missing the mischievous sparkle she had grown so used to seeing.

"Oh. Hi. How is everything going?"

A bitter sounding laugh bubbled up from Jack's throat, the harsh sound so impossibility un-him that Tooth had to fight back a gasp.

"You mean besides North thinking I'm trying to kill him, I'm doing great."

The wounded boy move to sit in a crouch, putting a great deal of his meager weight on the balls of his feet as he balanced on the tree top.

Tooth sighed. "I know about the picture. North told me." She didn't know why she told him, but she had a feeling he already knew.

"Figures." The harsh tone still lingered in his voice, now tainted with just the slightest hint of anger, and Tooth found that she hated it more than she thought she ever could have hated anything Jack did. "He told everyone but me."

He was moping, she realized with a start, and was in need of cheering up.

She ducked, trying and failing to catch his downturned eyes.

"You mustn't blame him Jack." She had kept her voice soft, but one would think that she had screamed it by how he reacted.

Blue eyes snapped up to meet amethyst and she could see pure exasperation swirling around with a slew of other emotions; Hope that she would believe him, fear that she wouldn't, and confusion about the whole problem the most prominent.

"Why not?" he demanded of her, making her shrink back in fear at the outburst, adding a new chill to the air. Tooth shivered. "He's being so unreasonable!"

His voice softened just a touch, guilt at making her cower being added to the list of feelings she could see on display in his eyes.

"Why would I want to set the North Pole on fire?!" His voice was pained now, the very sound of it making her heart clench painfully in her chest, and he seemed to deflate, body curling in on itself.

Tooth flew towards him, wings making what she could only hope was a soothing sound, and settled on her knees before him. One feather hand lifted, moving as if to touch the hurt teen before thinking better of it, and then dropped back to her lap.

Peeking up at him through pink lashes, Toothiana finally met his eyes.

"No one _wants_ to believe the picture, trust me." Jack seemed to perk up at this news. North has been working tirelessly to find the answer. I've never seen him this upset." A flash of a memory drifted through her head, reminding her of one time when he found out that the toys quota was nearly at half a week before Christmas. He had been stressed, yes, but he hadn't been as upset as he was now.

"He really cares about you, Jack." _And so do I_. The thought came and went before she had time to even begin to fathom where it had come from.

Jack just shook his head, refusing to believe what had been said, and looked at her.

Her shoulders slumped.

"I already _gave_ him the explanation for the picture, he just didn't believe me."

Eyes burning with tears of frustration, Jack looked down at his sleeve and picked at the fraying cuffs.

Tooth perked up. "What did you find?"

Jack flopped down, one arm resting on his bent knee while the other moved on to pick at the laces wrapped around his legs; after three hundred years he was surprised that they were still intact.

"I talked to the Orb, and it told me that the only possible answer was that I was framed by something called a Shifter."

His eyes stayed focused on his leg as he spoke, sounding downright miserable.

"A Shifter?" Tooth asked incredulously, scooting forward on her knees. She shook her head. "But Jack, that's impossible they're-" His sigh cut her off. "Extinct, I know," his eyes met hers again, just for a moment before fixating on his knee once again. "But it's the only explanation."

"It's impossible," she insisted, "I know the Shifters, and I know they died out a _long_ time ago."

His eyes snapped up to hers for the second time that day, curiosity and a keen interest sparking to life in the ice blue orbs. He leaned towards her.

"North knew of them too. Why do you guys seem to know so much about them?"

"Oh, it's a long story." Toothiana didn't really want to think about them.

What happened on that day hadn't been one of her prouder moments.

She still remembered the way she sobbed into North's chest, the heat of the burning forest beneath them making her skin feel overly tight as the sound of agenized screams rang it her ears; drowning out her own cries.

"We have time," Jack insisted, a pleading tone seeping in to mix with his voice. "I need to understand more about these _things_, and I need to understand why this one hates me."

Toothiana sighed, sending a silent plea to MiM that Jack wouldn't hate her when she was done, and relented.

"Okay then, you better make yourself comfortable."

Jack shifted, moving so his legs were pulled up to his chest and his chin rested on his knees. He looked every bit a little boy, eyes full of innocent curiosity.

Tooth almost giggled at how sweet he looked.

Bracing herself to retell what had to be the world's darkest moments, not to munching her own, the Fairy Queen began.

"It all started about four hundred years ago…"


End file.
